25/11/2019
BANGKOK THE BIGGEST NAME AMONG CLASSY ENTRY FOR NEXT MONTH'S QATAR INTERNATIONAL DERBY FESTIVAL
A high quality group of 25 overseas entries have been received for next month’s four-race, two-day Qatar International Derby Festival which takes place at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha on Friday December 20th and Saturday December 21st.
Bangkok, owned by Thailand’s King Power Racing and trained in England by Andrew Balding, heads a ten-strong overseas contingent among the 59 entries for the feature race of the Festival, December 21st’s US$500,000 (£390,625) Qatar Derby, a mile and a quarter (2000 metre) event for three-year-old thoroughbreds.
Bangkok has not raced since finishing a neck second in the Group 3 Strensall Stakes over nine furlongs at York in August. He had earlier chased home Japan in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot in June and won the Group 3 Classic Trial at Sandown in April.
Other leading overseas contenders are, from France, Mauricio Delcher’s Pedro Cara, touched off in the Jockey Club Derby in New York on his latest start; from Germany, Henk Grewe’s Say Good Buy, winner of a Group 3 at Baden-Baden last month; and from Norway, the Niels Petersen-trained Privilegiado, a 15-length scorer in the Listed Norwegian Derby.
The home team is led by two recent purchases from Europe: the Group 3 Prix Paul de Moussac third, Admiral Rous, now trained by Gassim Ghazali, and Old Glory, fourth in the Group 3 Thoroughbred Stakes, who has just joined the stable of Hadi Al Ramzani.
Al Rayyan Racecourse stages three different Derbies on December 21st – the other two are both restricted to purebred arabians. The most valuable is the four-year-old version, which boasts prize money of US$150,000 (£117,188) and is run over a mile and a quarter (2000 metres) while the three-year-old Qatar Derby, over a mile (1600 metres), is worth US100,000 (£78,125).
French trainer Thomas Fourcy won both races 12 months ago and again holds a strong hand, particularly in the 43-entry three-year-old version where he relies upon his unbeaten dual Group 1 winner, Lady Princess. Fourcy also has Badi Al Cham and Shalaa, two of the three foreign entries among 33 horses engaged in the four-year-old Derby.
Trainer Alban de Mieulle is responsible for the two top-rated Qatari purebred arabian entries. Marid, yet to race for de Mieulle but a dual Group 1 scorer in France in 2018, has the same rating as Shalaa in the four-year-old Derby, while Al Hazm, placed in Group 2 company in France and an easy winner on last month’s debut for the stable, is rated 2lbs behind Lady Princess at the top of the three-year-old entry.
The Festival gets under way on December 20th with the staging of the US$100,000 (£78,125) Al Rayyan Stakes, a seven furlong (1400 metre) contest for two-year-old thoroughbreds. Eight of the 36 entries hail from outside Qatar including Happy Bere, who in August won a Deauville Listed race for his French handler, Antoine de Watrigant.
Andrew Balding, trainer of Bangkok, said:
“Bangkok has been targeting the Qatar Derby for some time and the race conditions should be in his favour – a mile and a quarter is probably his optimal trip.”
“He likes fast ground, which is why he hasn’t run since August. We were happy to give him a break with this race in mind as the prospect of getting decent ground during the European autumn was pretty slim.”
“I have had runners out in Qatar a couple of times before and though things didn’t work out for another of King Power’s horses, Stone Of Destiny [who finished an unlucky second in the Dukhan Sprint in Doha in February 2019], it’s a lovely track where the international events are always very well organised.”
Nasser Bin Sherida Al Kaabi, CEO of the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club, said:
“The Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club is delighted with the quality and variety of the entries for next month’s Qatar International Derby Festival. The fact that so many horses with form in European Group and Listed races are set to take part shows the progress that racing in Qatar in general and this Festival in particular is making.”
“I look forward to hosting many of the world’s top owners, trainers and jockeys as we once again take pride in showcasing all that Qatar has to offer and promoting our nation as a hub for horseracing and a leader in the pure Arabian breed.”
Notes to Editors
A full list of the 25 overseas entries for the four Qatar International Derby Festival races (with trainers and countries of origin) is as follows (all four races are run on turf):
Al Rayyan Racecourse, Doha, Friday December 20th
US$100,000 Al Rayyan Stakes (2yo thoroughbreds) 7f/1400m
Cobra Eye (John Quinn, GB), Fuwayrit (Mark Johnston, GB), Global Esteem (Gay Kelleway, GB), Hamish Macbeth (Hugo Palmer, GB), Happy Bere (Antoine de Watrigant, FR), Hector Loza (Simon Dow, GB), Maystar (Archie Watson, GB), Sound Machine (Mario Hofer, GER) (8).
Al Rayyan Racecourse, Doha, Saturday December 21st
US$500,000 Qatar Derby (3yo thoroughbreds) 1m 2f/2000m
Alwaab (Fabrice Cappet, FR), Amiro (Michael Figge, GER), Bangkok (Andrew Balding, GB), Coolagh Forest (Paul d’Arcy, GB), Oklahoma Dancer (Adityan Selvaratnam, Oman), Pedro Cara (Mauricio Delcher, FR), Privilegiado (Niels Petersen, NOR), Rangali Island (David Simcock, GB), Say Good Buy (Henk Grewe, GER), Skazino (Cedric Rossi, France) (10).
US$150,000 Qatar Derby (4yo purebred arabians) 1m 2f/2000m
Badi Al Cham (Thomas Fourcy, FR), Fettah du Loup (Sulaiman Al Ghunaimi, Oman), Shalaa (Thomas Fourcy, FR) (3).
US$100,000 Qatar Derby (3yo purebred arabians) 1m/1600m
Battash de Faust (Jean-Francois Bernard, FR), Lady Princess (Thomas Fourcy, FR), Na’amah Naheez (Sulaiman Al Ghunaimi, Oman), Shadad (Charles Gourdain, FR) (4).
